


To Stay in Derdriu

by IGOM



Series: The Derdriu Confessions [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Claude is an impulsive idiot, F/M, SMUTTY SMUT, Spoilers for Claude/Byleth ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:49:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27659084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IGOM/pseuds/IGOM
Summary: Following the war, Claude and Byleth reconnect after a long separation and talk about their relationship and feelings for one another. Sex ensues.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Series: The Derdriu Confessions [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022437
Comments: 2
Kudos: 75





	To Stay in Derdriu

**Author's Note:**

> You don't have to read part one to understand this, but this is basically a resolution to the conversation the two have in "What Happens in Derdriu," where Claude and Byleth have a one-night stand with an agreement to discuss their feelings after the war.

Derdriu. It had been his refuge at times, felt like a prison in others. Later, it was an anchor that kept him moored to Fodlan. Now, he hoped it would be his salvation, some kind of saving grace to make up for all the mistakes he'd made in the past year.

Clearly, Byleth had developed a sense of humor in her first year as queen; it was the only explanation Claude had for being put in this apartment in the Riegan palace. They had been his rooms when Grandfather was alive with a hidden passage coming from the ducal apartments. _So I can keep a close eye on you, boy_. He laughed at the memory of his grandfather's stern voice when he said it following Claude's question, and he wondered how blind the old man really had been to his adventures.

It was late, and the moon was almost set over the port. Thank the Goddess he had made it in time to support Byleth, and the city had suffered only minimal damage, and the view wasn't that much different than when he was a teenage brat still trying to figure out how to manage to be everything to everyone. The stars didn't change, but he had. He still disliked to let anything go, but the years had taught him to make peace with his decisions a bit better.

She sure was making him wait. He deserved it, after the disappearing act he pulled after the war. In fact, if she never showed, he'd accept it as penance and return home to lick his wounds and learn to write love letters. As if flowery words would sway that heart of stone.

The door opened; Claude held his breath. "You must be tired."

"I've got too much on my mind, I couldn't sleep." It was only partly true; if he went to bed he would just lay there staring at the bedcurtains until his eyes itched, so he hadn't bothered to try.

She came to stand beside him to look out the window. The shirt she wore was slightly too big for her, and it took him a moment to realize that it was one of _his_. Something he left behind in his haste to return to Almyra, no doubt; instead of feeling hope, he just felt a sick knot of shame in his stomach at thought of his flight from Fodlan. "Me, too."

Claude couldn't bear to look at her, so he stared out the window, where the water rippled in the dim moonlight, the boats moored there bobbing in a soothing way. He liked being on a ship, to be honest. "So, I guess I owe you an explanation."

"Several." He would have preferred is she had shouted; he almost couldn't bear the quiet sadness in her voice. "After you left, I heard some unusual rumors about a young Almyran king with green eyes called Khalid the Foreigner with all sorts of queer ideas about cooperation with Fodlan."

He hung his head. "I meant to write you a letter, but it was complicated." His last year had been spent traveling to woo the more reticent captains and generals to support their new king. "I'm sorry."

"And you couldn't say something before you left?" She sighed. "I wondered why you didn't trust me."

"I didn't know." Just before the final battle he received a letter from his father urging him home as quickly as he could with no explanation, and letters from home were so infrequent he took it more seriously than he should have. It was just like his old man to send a letter like that just because he was bored of being king and wanted him home to take over the throne.

They fell silent for several minutes, and he watched her out of the corner of his eye; that same stoic face, though there was a touch of a frown on her mouth as she looked out over the darkened city. Maybe it was a trick of the light. At last she spoke. "I don't know what I'm doing, and this." Her fingers flexed, turning white as she gripped the windowsill, "People died because of my inexperience."

"I did spring it on you, didn't I?" He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "If it's any consolation, I've been trained from birth in how to be a leader and I still don't know what I'm doing half the time. All the 'what ifs' keep me up at night."

"It was supposed to be you in this spot, not me."

He shook his head. "No. I planned to have more time after the war before I had to go home. You're the natural fit for Fodlan's ruler, oh goddess on earth."

"Don't call me that," she snapped. Claude almost winced, but stopped himself in time; she deserved her anger. "That's just another title I didn't ask for." Her whole body was taut, fury making her rigid. "This was a mistake. Good night, Claude."

"Wait." He grabbed her wrist. Byleth looked as if she wanted to wrench herself from his grip; he would have let her, but instead she just stood there, jaw screwed up tight with all her pent up anger. "What was a mistake?"

This gave her pause, he could see her considering how to answer the question. "A woman comes into your room at night in her bedclothes and you don't know what she's after?" She shook her head. "It was stupid what we did before, but it's impossible now."

Oh. _Oh_. He looked at her; the smooth curve of her face, her delicate neck, seaglass hair falling carelessly over her shoulders and cheek, and her mouth still drawn in a tight line. "You don't have to worry about all that right now. We could just be-" What, lovers? Two desperate people looking for escape? He himself wasn't sure what he wanted to say; all he wanted was to soften the hardness of her lips. 

Slowly, he stepped closer. She drew in a shuddering breath but didn't move away as he tipped her chin up and touched those lips with a finger. "You know, that's my shirt you're wearing."

Byleth nodded, her pupils wide as he came closer. He could almost feel the tension ebb from her, the relief emanating from every inch of her body. "It smells like you." All the finery in all the land, and that was what she chose to sleep in.

Claude kissed her, soft at first until she whimpered against his mouth, and then he pulled her closer and kissed her deeply. He made him a little giddy when she clung to him, needy and shivering for his touch. 

Kisses down his jaw, dancing across his throat and neck and shoulder, he laughed at her near-feverish assault. "Ah, you." Under her shirt he explored the expanse of her back, tracing old scars; some he knew the history of, others were a mystery he wanted to ask about. "Nothing's impossible, you know."

She huffed, breath hot against his shoulder. "You said not to worry, so why are you fretting now?"

"Habit." He kissed her again with a groan as she pushed her hips against his, teasing his cock to attention. He wouldn't last long under these conditions. "Well? Here, or the bed?"

"Bed." She gasped as he hooked hands under her thighs and lifted her up, her ankles almost automatically hooking themselves behind him. She wasn't terribly heavy, and he liked the breathless little laugh of hers as he carried her to the next room. She laughed again as he fell back onto the bed with her still wrapped around him, her face shadowed as she loomed over him. "Claude." Then she tilted her head. "Or do you prefer Khalid?"

"Call me whatever you like, I don't expect you to be able to talk much shortly." Shirts thrown off in a heap, and he put his mouth over her nipple, rolling his tongue over the tightening flesh with relish. The sight of her, head thrown back as she whined at his touch; how he had missed her, how much he had forgotten about his feelings for her. 

He gasped at the touch of her hand trailing down across his stomach, tickling the hair there. "Don't you want-" he shivered as her fingers worked to undo his pants.

"No." She seemed reluctant to move from her seat on his hips, and did so only begrudgingly so they could divest each other of the last of the clothes. Naked, she straddled him again, his cock pressed against her belly. One hand teased, stroking him. He could see the curve of her smile as he bit back a moan. "You think you can get hard again tonight?"

"Yes." Another stroke, and he watched through his haze as she smiled wider, and then sat up on her knees to position herself over his cock. He reached to press his palm against her mound, a finger finding her clit swollen with desire. She moaned, panting, and then slowly drew him inside with another sound of pleasure. Wet and so warm, Claude couldn't stop himself from whimpering at the sensation of being joined with her. 

Her pushing was steady and forceful, full of purpose. One hand teasing her clit, he took a breast in her other hand to tickle the tip of her nipple. Each caress made her moan, short breathless little huffs until they ceased being sounds and instead turned into heady little breaths. "Harder," she whispered. He obliged, pinching a nipple between his fingers. She moaned and tipped forward to ride him, her hips rapidly increasing the pace until she pressed down hard against him, shivering and shuddering and crying out, tightened around his cock.

He pulled her close and rolled them so she lay under him; it was there on the edge, he could feel it. She slipped her thighs around him, feet dangling off his ass. A laugh cut off into another moan and he thrust, again and again until she tightened again, half of his name on her lips in a choking breath, and he felt himself spill out, that white hot swell of release that made him shiver and still his movements, groaning at the relief of it.

She put a hand on his face, and he looked up to see her smile. They kissed as he pulled out, and she whimpered as he did so. They lay there for a long moment, Claude still half draped over her body as she pulled the coverlet over the both of them. "You need something?" He didn't bring his entire bag of tricks, but he was certain to have some pennyroyal or cohosh.

She shook her head and rolled into him. He felt a tender kiss on his breastbone and the tickle of her nose on his chest. "Stay."

"Anything for you." He kissed her hair, lingering to breath in the smell; soap and her sweat, earthy and deep. At last, he felt the exhaustion of the day take him.

It was a bright, beautiful morning, and Byleth was still there, awake and watching him. Limbs still tangled up together, he stretched with a yawn, surprised when she giggled. "What?"

"Your face, that's all."

"What about it?" He propped himself up on an elbow to mirror her own posture.

"It's handsome."

Claude smiled. "Even in the morning, with my hair a mess and bad breath and I can feel that I drooled-"

"Yes." Again she buried herself in him, and he reflexively wrapped her up in his arms as if to protect her from what waited for them outside these rooms. "You know that we can't stay like this forever."

"I know." Despite their best efforts, the outside world crept in. "But I have a plan. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, you impossible man." Her hands dug into his shoulders. "Make love to me again."

That he could do easy. Claude kissed her,and she melted against him as he pulled her hips to his.

* * *

Queen Byleth the Fell Star, the Goddess-On-Earth, sat on her throne as he entered the room. Crown on her head and the white and gold regalia of the goddess-queen, he had to admit the sight of her took his breath away; she truly was magnificent. Courtiers and nobles watched him approach, eyeing him in his full splendor befitting a king. "Your Majesty." He bowed. "We missed a more formal presentation before. King Khalid the Foreigner, of Almyra. Known in these lands as Claude von Riegan, duke of Riegan."

"Your Majesty. Fodlan owes you a debt, and I thank you. Do you have a request of the crown to repay you?" She was wrong; she _was_ good at this.

She might never forgive him, but he had to try. He dropped to his knees, eliciting a gasp from the crowd; his eyes watered, as he had not thought to drop a bit more softly onto the marble. "I ask for the hand of the queen of Fodlan. I do not wish to join our nations into one, only to join myself to the one I love like none other. No other woman in the whole of the world would do as my wife and queen." It was probably the most honest thing he had ever said in public. Their gazes met, and he could see the faintest outline of a smile, head askew so slightly as if to say, _you clever bastard._


End file.
